Page 41

Chapter 40

Anna

‘Did someone have fun on their night out?’ Liv asks Margot suddenly. Margot looks at me blankly, then back at Liv. ‘Last night,’ Liv prompts. ‘That Turkish restaurant on the Wellingborough Road, I saw you leaving, all dressed up.’

‘It wasn’t me,’ she replies.

‘You must have a lookalike then. She was even in the same-style Donna Karan dress you wore to our New Year’s Eve party.’

‘Nope.’ Margot shrugs. Her cheeks are reddening. She pushes her chair back and stands up. ‘Little girls’ room,’ she says, as if she can’t get away quickly enough.

This little paroxysm of weirdness doesn’t go unnoticed by either Liv or me.

My buzzing phone distracts me. It’s so bright out here that I squint to read the screen. It’s a text message from Drew to say he’s working late again tonight. That’s four nights in the last two weeks, but I don’t mind. I’m glad he’s finally found a job he’s taking seriously.

Things have been better between us lately, but that’s probably down to us seeing each other less rather than being more emotionally aligned. Our absence from one another’s lives has taken away our conversation and therefore a reason to bicker. It’s more of an Elastoplast to cover the cracks than a solution. But when I do see him, he appears happier and less angry than he has been, and he’s stopped taking out his petty frustrations on me.

I look up from my phone as Margot returns from the bathroom. Her expression isn’t the same one she left wearing and the atmosphere has chilled by several degrees. Liv has picked up on it too.

‘Everything okay, Margot?’ she asks.

‘Yes.’ A smile arrives a second too late.

‘Only you look a little flustered,’ Liv adds.

Liv’s phone rings before Margot replies. Liv makes her excuses and leaves the garden to answer it.

‘What’s wrong?’ I whisper.

Her eyes follow Liv back inside the house until she is out of sight.

‘I found something in the bathroom,’ she hisses.

‘What?’

‘An envelope. A padded envelope. In the bin.’

‘What kind of padded envelope?’

She cocks her head to one side and raises her eyebrows, waiting for me to play catch-up. My own eyebrows arch when the penny drops.

‘Yes,’ she continues, ‘ that kind of padded envelope. Same brand, same printed label with my name and address on the front.’

‘What was inside? Did you look?’

‘It was empty and folded in half.’

‘Perhaps she found it outside. Maybe it came out of your recycling bin during the high winds at the weekend and ended up in her garden.’

‘I don’t throw them away, remember?’ she fires back. ‘The police told me not to.’

‘There has to be an explanation.’

Margot folds her arms and throws herself back into her seat.

‘Well, the only one I can think of right now is that I am having coffee in the garden of the psychopath who’s stalking me.’